A width of a screed system associated with a paving machine may need to be widened or shortened depending on the required paving width. This is accomplished by detachably coupling one or more extension members to a base screed of the paving machine. For example, a screed system that is 6 meters wide fully extendible could be configured for 12 meters with the installation of the extension members. In known systems, a status of coupling or decoupling of the extension member is manually fed to the paving machine by an operator through an operator interface device or service specific tools, in order to configure the machine size. Alternatively, in other systems the machine size may be configured by adding or removing jumpers in a machine harness In some machines, in order to avoid determining the overall machine length, the system is run in an open-loop configuration, that does not require specific knowledge of the machine size.
For example, J.P. Published Application Number 2005/090043 provides a paving width indicating device for a paving machine which includes a main screed and extendable auxiliary screeds. The paving width indicating device allows an operator to check a paving width. In the paving machine, automatic winding measuring tapes are fixed to outermost portions of the respective auxiliary screeds and tips of scales pulled out of the measuring tapes are fixed to outermost portions of the main screed, respectively.
The above solutions however require manual intervention and hence are time consuming and laborious. Moreover, they prove to be ineffective when a number of extension members are utilized. Hence, there is a need to provide an improved system for the detection and identification of the extension members coupled to the screed system of the paving machine.